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The importance of repeating the same thing

An action is a thought that manifests itself.
A small gesture denounces us, so we have to make everything perfect, think about the details, learn the technique so that it becomes intuitive.
Intuition has nothing to do with routine but rather with a state of spirit that lies beyond technique.
So, after practicing a lot, we no longer think about all the necessary movements: they become part of our very existence. But for this to happen, you have to train and repeat.

And as if that were not enough, you have to repeat and train.
Watch a good blacksmith working the steel. To the untrained eye he is repeating the same hammer blows over and over again.
But those who know the importance of training know that each time the hammer is raised and then lowered, the intensity of the blow is different. The hand repeats the same gesture but as it approaches the iron it knows whether to touch it harder or softer.
Look at the windmill. Whoever sees its vanes just once imagines that it always turns with the same speed, always repeating the same movement. But those who know windmills know that they are conditioned to the wind and change their direction whenever necessary.
The hand of the ironsmith was trained after the gesture of hammering was repeated thousands of times.
Windmill vanes can move fast after the wind has blown a lot and polished their gears.
The archer lets many an arrow pass far from the target because he knows that he will only learn the importance of the bow, posture, the string and the target after he repeats his gestures thousands of times without being afraid of making a mistake.

And it´s also very important, that you have a good trainer, who knows who you are and gives you the right tips and motivates you in what you should do.
Thanx for this nice input.
Have a good weekend all!!!

This gets me to ponder on what my mother used to tell me… “correct practice makes perfect”

It is not a matter of just repeating but rather making sure that every action you take moves you closer to your goal.

Easier said, though. the determination to make things as perfectly as possible in one’s capacities challenges the person to stick to what needs to be done despite the difficulty… One thing I have yet to learn.

hehe… I always heard, “practice makes perfect,” and then I learned how much time can be wasted by unknowingly practicing mistakes. There are times when you should put down the hammer, the bow, the flute…. whatever it might be, and leave them be until you can come back with an uncluttered mind which can then clearly see what repetitious actions will lead to your goal. Practice is not merely repetition. Every hammer blow, each note has nuance.

I’ve been telling myself to practice a lot lately. Mostly because, among other things, I’m trying to learn to meditate as I try to discover me or find answers to some difficult questions. It made me consider what I used to do most of my waking hours—PRACTICING.
But not so much for the obvious reasons I practiced, but what did I LEARN from all that time practicing? And I began to see there are things that can be applied to other areas of my life. Some excerpts from my thoughts.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012
I don’t think playing the Instrument was my purpose in life.
Then why was I drawn to it?
Perhaps it was there to teach me lessons about life?
It definitely lead me down a path. But to where? And why?

–List–
(adding from time to time as things come to me)
Patience
Discipline
Humility
Courage
Enjoying myself regardless of imperfection
Knowing when something is beyond my capabilities—at the moment or perhaps forever—but moving ahead regardless.

Along the way, I think it stopped teaching me things. I don’t think it gave up on me, rather it’s possible I gave up on it by not listening close enough, or when I did, I didn’t think about how to apply those lessons in other areas. Or it’s possible all the lessons had been presented and now it was up to me to decide what to do with them.

I specifically mention The Tool—the Instrument, and not music itself as my purpose or path. Because there came a day when I no longer cared to play. The Instrument was a tool, but to what purpose I’ve yet to discover.

Sunday, February 12, 2012
I’m trying to learn things totally new to me and I just need to practice—which I should know all about.
I’m impatient though. I was trying to “perform” for awhile now, but I thought I didn’t need to practice much first. Wrong.
So perhaps actively looking for Me will need to stop (or slow down) for now while I spend more time practicing?
—-Friday, February 17, 2012
Again I must tell myself, “PRACTICE!” In a previous career I spent much time practicing, but didn’t always hear instant results. Yet I had learned results might be shown minutes or hours later, then again it may take weeks or months. Sure I was disappointed when results didn’t come in a timely fashion—I had deadlines to meet—but the disappointment rarely kept me from practicing. Now pay attention Me.
—-Tuesday, February 21, 2012
PRACTICE!!
I gotta tell myself again to practice… or I should say, “Don’t become disappointed after a session.”
I so want more magical moments, and this morning nothing new to write about. Perhaps I try too hard and just haven’t yet been able to free my mind when I choose. So I keep at it.
I have to let determination win over disappointment, that’s all there is to it.

At the very least, I had some quiet time with the sounds of the ocean while sitting in the glow of candlelight.
That’s something to be happy about.

Why is it so important that we repeat ? To do something just the once, to feel it, live it, know that we don’t fully understand the outcome of what we do, isn’t that also the essence of living a life to the full? …to move out of our comfort zones and experience our days differently, in fact to make a decision that turns our lives around and inside out, that forces us to see with new eyes, to see the things we have long since taken for granted. I agree that repetition serves a greater good, but I feel that what is waiting for us..is that leap of faith into the unknown..that allows us to be the creatures we truly want to be, without truly knowing what that is. I know that when I repeat a word in a foreign language, I learn it…I hold it, get used to its sound and finally own it…but to make a move and find myself immersed in that culture gives me the wings I crave. In praise of mastering skills, languages, techniques – I believe that first of all it is important that we have vision…altruism and compassion; a sense of knowing and understanding. If it is repetition teaches us this I will endeavour to learn in this way – and I hope that I won’t neglect the need to be spontaneous in the process.

“A 17 year old Bianca Passarge of Hamburg dresses up as a cat, complete with furry tail and dances on wine bottles, June 1958. Her performance was based on a dream and she practiced for eight hours every day in order to perfect her dance.”

She literally lived her dream.

… and it also reminds me of a little baby, who trying to stand up falls down countless times, but once they succeed in standing up, then they try to walk … they don’t care they have fallen down, it’s fun, its really amazing … they don’t say “No I’ve reached my goal, I am going to quit” … they keep going, learned instinct maybe… but some of my ancestors, in whatever form, never gave up a long, long time ago and that is why I am here, writing this …

So thank you Paulo and Bianca for showing the world that the world is a better place if you follow your dreams, endure and make them happen.

Also like flying a kite. When you throw the kite in the air, every pull and loosening is unique in movement and force. That comes by training too, but the first time I flew a proper kite, I just needed a little push. When I got the rhythm, I felt like the winds, the sky, the looks of the people around me, the string, the kite, my hands or my whole body, worked as one to keep the kite in the sky and let it float. I kept doing this for hours. I felt such a relief. The kite sort of demonstrated my soul, and me as the Mother. My soul is always free and the Mother is always there to guide me, take me where ever she wants.

Also like flying a kite. When you throw the kite in the air, every pull and loosening is unique in movement and force. That comes by a training too, but the first time I flew a proper kite, I just needed a little push. When I got the rhythm, I felt like the winds, the sky, the looks of the people around me, the string, the kite, my hands or my whole body, worked as one to keep the kite in the sky and let it float. I kept doing this for hours. I felt such a relief. The kite sort of demonstrated my soul, and I as the Mother. My soul is always free and the Mother is always there to guide me, take me where ever she wants.

Hi ..just wanted to say that yes the roots of the words routine and repetition..are in fact words that lead to freedom or alignment of our senses, or at least full use of them (thanks Marie Christine)…given that these words have such powerful meanings, there is no longer need to feel their weight in a negative sense…routine=boredom, repetition=monotony..and as I write, I’m thinking of my work as a teacher and I realise that now, after a long, long time of working in this field of education, I have insight and experience, and it is this that I can pass on.

while training is very important, one must know – as you said in Aleph – the difference between training and repeating the same mistake, repeating mistakes is not training, and you will not learn the right way by repeating the same mistake and expecting a different output

the effect of repeating and training, I have first consciously observed when I did funk. it was the first dancing class I took fairly late because I did not have the courage before :o)

I experienced the training and repetition as cutting off my analytical mind and opening up the intuitive part, the other half of the brain. if I went through a practice with my “normal, every day thinking” I always failed. this practicing was learning to shut it off & slide over. let the body learn the movement. at the very end, it is the body that does the work, the mind is totally quiet.

when I now look back, I realize that this practice also gave me more than just being able to do all the movements in a sequence.
I think it really helped me a better access to intuition, to my feminine part, & at the same time it was my first type of meditation.

I love this story of the blacksmith. Training is absolutely essential. No matter what you do. But you should also be aware to make the run most things unconsciously. To make things run automatically, the sense of training, you have to make some of those unconscious things conscious. Breathing, for example. Or even if I sit here writing, I did not feel the chair beneath me. Only if I concentrate. It’s similar with my clothes. I can not feel my t-shirt. Only if I concentrate. In many ways this is so. We are confronted every moment with millions of impressions. Our brain filters. Thank God. Similarly, it is with sadness. I’m sad if my mother dies. If the mother dies from someone I do not know, not. This is a safety feature in my opinion. If I am aware that, then I can even learn grief. Or pity. I could not let my child starve to death, and for other children, it does not matter. But there is no difference between the two. A child is a child. This is perhaps also a training thing.

For me, it’s important to repeat things ,it;s a slow process.,
There is no rush, I have learned that when you rush you miss important things.

Every time you repeat something, you learn something new about it.

For example, when I read a text on the blog several times, I can assimilate it better than the first time. It gives me new insights that allow me to go further.
I can then rectify the route and see things I was unable to grasp the first time. When I add these together, I find it is what allows me to make it possible so that I can then project it into the future.

Another example doing the dishes,
There are 1,000 of ways of doing dishes.,
So one day, I can do it in a different manner to the day before. using the water either very hot or cold or mild, or making bubbles with the dish washing liquid or not using so much.
Every time it is a different experience that brings something new.

It can be a kind of a meditation as well.

It’s all up to me to find the way that suits me best.

Anything is an Art and the way you can bring it up to an Art form is through practice.

Indeed, that just when i thought of actually giving my dreams up, I’ve realized the importance of repeating the same thing to actually reach what I want. Maybe I’m not honed yet. There’s no other way. I have to train the way others do. Doing two things at the same time is never easy for a reviewee who financially sends her way to review and agonizes on all the bills to pay way back home. I’ m not saddened. This is my training and my ever acceptance of it will make way for me to get there. Something good will happen in the next six months. Who knows, this I’ll is ever essential right? ;)

There is small poem in hindi which I read while I was in primary school and that goes like this “KARAT KARAT ABHYAS KE , JAR MATI HO SUJAN, RASRI AAVAT JAAT KE , SIL PAR PARAT NISHAN” means that the pratice of doing something again and again makes even an idiot a skilled person like a soft rope if passes through the same mark over the well for fetching water again and again leaves a permanant mark over the hard surface of well”- Thats the importance of abhyas- pratice……

Thank you for this I needed it I am doing my after University training and I spent 4 months now and sometimes I feel bored and sad of repeating same work everyday I think like I should be in my real career now ! But after reading this I now appreciate it . thank you :)
LOVE
Susana

Getting up in the morning during all seasons of the year, during days of high energy and days of low energy is also repetition, each new day starting a new life, created from days gone, mixed with the magic now and stretching for the miraculous future..

Training is not a routine, it is essential!!!! Beautifully said, Paulo!

I learned how this powerful quote also applies in training your mind to let go of fears blocking me to move to forward. It took me a while to take the first steps towards making a life change. I had the perfect plan, use excuses that made me look like a hero to hide behind my fears. By saying that I couldn’t make a change because I loved my family friends too much made me look like I was a good person to think about others…

When you train your mind to try new different things (little things), you strengthen your mind to stand up to your fears. I noticed that every time I tried something new ( talking in front of a crowd, learning a new language…) I was afraid….so, I saw my fear as a good thing. It meant that I was pushing myself to exceed my limits and that made me prepare accordingly…I still did make mistakes, but, this time I was stronger in being able to keep going.

From my perspective, my experience now I see this as training to know what to NOT do and freeing your intuition to show you what you need to know.
This is how I see it now, but it is a bit confusing to me when you say “learn the technique so that it becomes intuitive.” I mean, you mean this literally or is it a way of saying it?
That is because I see intuition as a separate thing from experience, but maybe I shouldn’t…

If training were routine we wouldn’t learn anything from it beside the fact that we wouldn’t enjoy it.

I watch my daughter draw. She uses colored markers, her favorite medium. She draws a horse, stops and shows it to me, explaining something about it. Then she picks up a second sheet of paper and draws another…and another…and another…. This can go on for several hours. She generally goes through from twenty to fifty sheets of paper per day, every day. This has been going on since she was three; she is now seven. I have one closet in our house that is filled with her drawings, stacks and stacks and stacks of papers, stored away in boxes.

Today she is drawing horses. This may go on for days. To one who does not understand the process of art, her actions may appear redundant. They might wonder: Why is she drawing the same subject over and over? But, at the end of the week, when I take her drawings out of the bin to store them away and I look at them all, side by side, one after the other, I can see the progression. She is working through a problem in her mind: she is attempting to capture motion. The first horses are stiff, standing still, legs straight. Then they begin to prance across the page; some are rearing up, others kicking their heels in the air. Finally, they are galloping, running headlong, their manes and tails fluttering in the wind.

Last week it was faces – human faces – dozens of them, each one unique. Differently shaped eyes, mouths, noses. Different hair colors and skin tones. Some faces round or oval, others squarish or long. Like with the horses, some drawing depicted a single figure, others, a multitude – a herd of horses or a whole crowd of faces.

I try not to get too involved in what she is doing. I do not want to pressure her in any way. This is something that she has picked up on her own, something that just seems to come naturally to her, and I do not want to burden her with any expectations of my own. But I observe, I always watch what she is doing, with enormous fascination and even a little awe, because I know that what she is doing – just this sort of ongoing obsession, this sort of repetition – is what makes an artist an artist. Through repetition, she is teaching herself to draw, she is learning the same sorts of lessons that might otherwise be taught in an art class. The difference is that she is learning them, not just for the moment, but she is learning them well, wholly absorbing each new concept as she works her way through it.

Several years ago, for example, I can remember when she first began to understand perspective. I never tried to explain it to her, but she just picked it up, through observation and repetition. One day she came to me and said, “Mom, look! The things that are higher up on the paper and smaller – those things are far away. The things at the bottom and that are larger – those are close up.” So I began to show her paintings which illustrated the succession of the development of perspective throughout history. Similarly, I remember when she discovered the concept of dynamism, all on her own. She began to draw animals with many legs and with lines radiating out from them. She said, “Look! They are running.” She drew a man, the same man, in succession, over and over, across the paper, a little higher up each time. She explained, “He’s jumping into the air!” So I showed her Balla’s “Dog on a Leash” as well as the works of other futurist artists.

The thing is that she is teaching herself, perhaps better than I or any arts instructor could ever teach her. She is learning through repetition. When I show her examples of other artists’ works in response to what she is doing, this only serves to reinforce the lesson she has already learned on her own.

When I watch her doing this, going through page after page of paper, drawing for hours each and every day, I am reminded of artists such as Rodin, who sculpted many of the same figures over and over for many years, until he achieved precisely the pose and effect that he was seeking. The willingness to undertake this sort of repetition is not something that comes easily. It cannot be forced by external pressures. One has to be drawn to it, naturally, compelled from within. Me, for example, I could draw one subject once, and that would be it. I could not possibly make myself draw several hundred dogs, over and over, until I got it right. I would expire of boredom. I would lose interest completely. And yet I can write essentially the same story over and over – one time as an autobiographical essay, again as a short story, another time as a short story from another perspective, again as a chapter in a novel, and finally in a flash fiction piece. This does not bore me. I feel compelled to repeat, because I am trying to get it right. I know the story wants to be told – I just have to find the right form.

So, when it comes to practice and repetition, our attempts to be like that blacksmith in Paulo’s story, I think that our willingness to repeat is an actual indicator of what undertakings we are naturally inclined toward – in other words, what is our personal destiny. I might think, for example, that I want to take up mounted archery because I have always been fascinated by it, but when I actually get a bow in my hand and mount a horse, I might find that I am incapable of enduring the kind of persistent practice that sets apart an excellent archer from the mere mediocre. This does not mean that I should not pursue archery as a hobby if it is my wish to do so, but it is highly unlikely that I shall ever become another Lajos Kassai. It is not my destiny. One’s willingness to repeat an undertaking, again and again, in success and in failure, the driving compulsion to repeat it until one perfects ones skills – this is likely a very good indicator of where one’s true destiny lies.

Nabil Alaihi… This is from The Witch of Portobello!! :)
I loved shooting the film Paulo! The desert was so beautiful, warm and sunny during the day and extreme winds at night. Ahhh… Nostalgia.
Paulo, I am So happy to connected to you through The Witch of Portobello!! It’s such a dream come true. I’m proud to be your Witch of Portobello!
With love,
C.